Silver Grass
by Scio Nescio
Summary: Set in S01. For some reason unknown to him, Hei starts to dream while completing a mission abroad. Those dreams turn out to be anything but normal. In addition, someone seems to abuse the messed up state that his mind is in due to sleep deprivation.
1. Prologue: A Stranger in a Strange Land

**A/N:** This is my new story. First of all, I want to thank all those nice people that commented on my last story. I hope that you'll like this story, even though it's a completely different genre.

I found a Beta now, so the corrected version will be updated, soon.

Alright, let's start the story. You will find more notes at the end.

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><p><strong>Silver Grass<strong>

**Prologue: A Stranger in a Strange Land**

"So, you're the Chinese import-contractor? I told my superiors that cheap Chinese products break easily, but they wouldn't listen." November 11 stated without emotion. Hei turned around to stare at him not knowing what to answer. At first he hadn't even recognized November's voice, as it sounded too different when he spoke English. How did MI-6 get involved with this? If he started a fight now, he would most certainly draw attention towards himself. He noticed that his mouth hung open a little and started to speak quickly as not to raise November's suspicion: "Excuse me?"

A little smile flashed over his face as the agent answered: "I'm just joking. Well, back to business. I am November 11, your contact for the next weeks, and you are September. Here is a map on which I highlighted the point where you are supposed to meet your other contact person, who will then take you into the organization. I also marked the apartment you will be living in and this meeting point where you are to report every second day, starting tomorrow. Do you have any questions left regarding your mission?"

'Yes' Hei thought. 'Why are you the one giving me directions?'

However, instead of asking that question he shook his head and waited patiently, until November had disappeared. After a couple of seconds he sat down on a bench that was close by and exhaled slowly not sure what to think of all this. He would have to find a phone booth to call Huang. Quickly.

While on his desperate search for a pay phone, he thought back to his mission briefing a couple of days ago and wondered, if he had missed some crucial point – for example MI-6' involvement.

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><p>It had rained that day and Hei had felt a little impatient as Huang took his sweet time. He showed up twenty minutes late and sat down on the bench under the tree, where the rain was held back by the leaves so that he could smoke.<p>

"I hope your English is good", he declared mysteriously and Hei knew that those words would mean trouble for him.

"It's alright. What do I need it for?" His question came reluctantly since he did not really wish to actually know what the syndicate had in stock for him this time.

Huang puffed on his cigar for a couple of seconds, before he decided to answer the question and go on with the briefing: "You are going to Europe and I doubt that you will find too many Japanese speaking people there. The syndicate wants you to infiltrate an organization, give information to your contact person, whom you will meet at your destination, and afterwards they want you to eliminate the head-members of that organization."

"I am supposed to take down a European organization? Alone?" Hei asked just to be sure that he had heard right and Huang nodded.

"Your contact person will help you at the elimination part of the mission, but you will have to do the rest on your own. In order to get you to Europe, you will go back to China as Li Shengshun, because you have to visit your mother who is in the hospital. She has cancer, which is why you are allowed to interrupt your exchange program. Once you are in China, you will get a new ID and you will take a plane to Europe. And then I won't have to deal with you for a couple of weeks."

Huang smiled at the last part. "Mao won't come with you, since he refuses to travel on the airplane as a cat and Yin will stay here, too. A doll will raise too much suspicion. She will give you the addresses of your meeting points and the places where your ship and plane leave. Have fun."

He laughed and got up to leave. The next day Hei had gotten his information and only three days afterwards a ship took him over to China.

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><p>Everybody had cell phones – except for Hei. Thus, everybody stopped using pay phones – again, except for Hei. Now the effect of that was that there were hardly any phone booths left for him to find, which meant he had to wander through a huge foreign city, while desperately looking for one of those archaic machines.<p>

When he was finally able to find one, he had trouble figuring out how many of the coins he was given to feed the phone. So, after he had randomly put in a large amount of money, he was able to dial the emergency number that he was given with the money.

The phone rang about half a minute, before Huang's ruff voice answered: "What do you want. This number is for emergencies only!"

For a couple of seconds, Hei was happy to hear somebody speak Japanese. It was hard to walk through the streets and listen to people talk in a language, he did not understand. What a nice feeling to be able to speak a language now, that none of the by-passers understood. "This is an emergency. I just met my contact person. He is an MI-6 agent."

There was no answer for a short time while Huang seemed to try to comprehend the gravity of the situation. All he could hear was the humming of the phone line.

"That's impossible, are you sure?" Huang had him confirm his statement and Hei even told him which exact agent it was he had met. "Maybe the syndicate chose to work with them in order to get rid of that organization. Don't reveal who you are working for. MI-6 probably doesn't know who they are dealing with." That was all that Huang was able to contribute to the situation.

"Understood" Hei said, even though he was not exactly sure he did. "I'll call back if I have any more questions." Then he hung up and gave a short huff, before he opened his map in order to figure out his apartments address.

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><p>The apartment was small, but sufficient. It was located in the middle of Bielefeld, Germany where the headquarters of his target organization lay. When Hei had opened the map, a little paper had fallen out. It read: 'Meet the '<em>Dornröschen'<em> agent at 10 am tomorrow.' At least he had the rest of the day to acclimate to the new surroundings.

Hei wondered how much money had changed hands to ensure that his equipment hadn't been taken away at the airport. After all he had taken several sets of knives and his metal wires and nobody at the security check had as much as blinked.

When he was done stowing away his weapons in the closet, he left his apartment and went on a walk. It was late afternoon and the sky was overcast by gray clouds so that the city looked somewhat dull and lifeless. Still, people where walking down the streets busily heading from one appointment to the next, some of them talking on the phone or stopping at the window of a shop to look at the items on display. They didn't seem to mind the dull weather since they were probably used to it.

Not that Hei himself cared. Of course it would be inconvenient if it started to snow, because it was always harder to fight in a snowstorm, but he wouldn't be stopped by something as trivial as that.

After a fifteen minute walk, Hei had reached the headquarters of his target organization. It was a tall, gray building that looked pretty much like any ordinary office building would. Nothing seemed to be special about it or give away the fact that an organization that was hiring contractors was located inside.

Then, he spotted a small café on the other side of the street, right across from the organization's hideout, and headed that way in order to get a warm drink since it had gotten fairly cold outside. He would have to buy warmer clothes as soon as possible, since he hadn't expected the temperatures to be this low. Actually, he should've known that it would be cold with winter starting soon and Christmas drawing closer. That was another thing he didn't care about enough to pay any attention towards it.

Once he had entered the café, he quickly found a small table close to the front windows where he could keep an eye on his target location. The café had an inviting interior with walls painted in warm colors and the people inside were acting completely different from those outside. They were calm and relaxed while eating cake and drinking coffee.

A young woman with long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail came to his table and tried to take his order in German.

"Umm, I'm Chinese, so, is it okay if I order in English?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head while quickly slipping into his Li-act and giving the woman a big, slightly uncomfortable smile. She nodded, took his order, and headed back to the counter to prepare his coffee. The smell inside this café had started to get to Hei, too. He noticed this because his stomach gave a slight rumble, something that would grow out of hand if he did not get something to eat, soon. Probably it was best to just eat right here, now that he had ordered a coffee already. From what he could see at the other people's tables, there were many delicious looking cakes offered and he would have a hard time deciding on which one to eat.

When Hei's eyes moved back to the window, he saw a green-bluish blot in his peripheral vision and quickly turned its way to see an observer spirit disappear into the window. Was MI-6 keeping track of him, or was that mysterious organization observing all the close-by buildings? He didn't know and decided to ask his contact person the next day, hoping that whoever had sent out the spirit did not notice him.

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><p>"Did you find him?" asked the woman and the little boy nodded with a blank expression on his face. "He's at Becker's café. It is located 0.8 kilometers north-east, right across-" The boy was interrupted, as the woman huffed: "I know where it's at, I'm not stupid. Stop observing him for today, I don't want him to notice you and get suspicious."<p>

The boy only nodded and pulled away from the café window.

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><p><strong>More AN:** Alright, that was the prologue.

This prologue is very short and is meant to be more of a teaser than anything else. The real story starts with the first chapter, which I will upload soon.

Since this story is almost completely finished, the updates will come in a regular interval (maybe every 2nd week or so).

So long!  
>Scio Nescio<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: Journeys in a Foreign World

**A/N:** Hello again and thank you for the nice reviews.

I thought that friday was a perfect day to upload this chapter, so here it is. More notes at the bottom.

**Chapter 1: Journeys in a Foreign Land**

Hei was walking across a field. It was night, but the moon was shining brightly in a purple night-sky so the grass gave off an oddly silver glow while swaying in a slightly cold breeze. For some reason he felt watched – as if something he could neither see, nor otherwise sense, was gazing at him, observing his every move.

Why did he come to this field in the first place? And when did he get here? Actually, Hei noticed, he had never been to this place before, so what was going on?

He looked around, but all he could see was the grass stretching from one end of the world to the other, an endless ocean of silvery blades, moving slightly, as if they were breathing the wind that was running through them, and whispering words that were too vague to understand.

This whole situation was so confusing and frustrating! Hei's rational mind told him to leave, to get to a place that he knew, but there was no such place around, because all of those places were gone, eaten by the silver flood. Probably, it would devour him next.

For the first time since he had turned into a contractor, Hei felt panic flood his mind. He had to run.

Before he could take action though, Hei awoke in his bed which was located in the small apartment. Sweat was pouring down his back and he felt his body shivering, even though the heat in the small room was on maximum and it was definitely not cold at all. What was that about?

As a contractor he wasn't supposed to have dreams, so why…? He checked the clock and decided to go back to sleep for the time being. After all he still had his first day of work the next day and didn't want to be too tired. Still, while he was drifting back into sleep, his mind couldn't stop thinking about his experience and kept him awake for a long time.

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><p>Just before the clock hit 10am, Hei was at the meeting point – a bus stop crammed with people shoving him in different directions while waiting for the bus. It was an unpleasant experience to say the least and Hei wished that the contact would show up soon, even though he wasn't sure on how they were supposed to recognize each other. Earlier that morning it had started to snow, so that a soft, white blanked was spread all over the city and the air had turned freezing cold.<p>

When the bus came and everybody struggled to get a seat, Hei just calmly waited for the chaos to subside and watched as the bus departed. Maybe his contact was waiting for this to happen.

A short while later, a small man in a thick, black coat joined him at the now empty meeting spot, stood there for a little while and then started to speak: "I will give you a key card that will allow you to enter our headquarters through the back door. We expect you to arrive in thirty minutes."

With those words he went by him and slipped an envelope into his hands. Hei watched as he departed with somewhat hectic steps, leaving footprints in the snow. Now all he had to do was walk over to his new workplace and act inconspicuous enough for them to let all the information slip that he needed. A task that was probably easier to state than to act out.

Due to the salt that was spread on the streets and sidewalks, the snow had turned into a disgusting mix of water and mud in some places which made the city look dirty and somewhat depressing. Hei trudged through the mess on the ground without paying it much attention though and soon arrived at the organization's office.

Inside the envelope Hei found the key card which was completely white with a black magnetic strip on one side. If an outsider saw this card, they wouldn't have a clue on where this card belonged to or if it was even real. The slit for the key card was at the right side of a small black door, a door that was easy to overlook if you were just passing by. When Hei used his card, it opened without making any noise and he entered a lobby that was far bigger than the he would have guessed, especially after seeing the nondescript door.

Obviously, the organization "Dornröschen" didn't lack money, for the interior of the lobby seemed to be fairly expensive, with luxurious furniture in a lounge area and a long counter behind which young man dressed in a black suit was waiting for arriving people. After he had made his way to the counter, Hei gave the man a short bow and introduced himself as Hui Sun, Chinese contractor. The man nodded at his introduction and handed him an envelope with a little explanation: "This contains your first job. After you have completed that mission, you will be fully accepted by the `Dornröschen`-Organization and gain all full member rights. Those include free access to the upper stories where we offer several services like free massages or relaxation rooms. We also offer entrance to a gourmet bistro on the highest floor with a nice view across the whole city and of course free food as well. Once you are accepted you should just take your time to look around the building." The man gave him a little smile and reached across the counter to offer Hei a handshake. "By the way, my name is Alexander Seidel, nice to meet you."

Hei was thoroughly confused by this human's behavior towards a contractor. Apparently this man decided to disregard all the normal emotions that humans usually held towards contractors, like fear, contempt, insecurity, or simply hate, and chose to be open and friendly instead. Perplexed he let him shake his hand energetically while Hei kept his face completely emotionless, which didn't seem to bother the man much.

With another bow he left, giving the man a neutral "Bye" which was answered by a shout as he had already crossed half of the hall: "Actually, it's `Tschüss`." Since he didn't know whether he was supposed to react to the correction or not, he just left the office without another word. Hopefully that man wouldn't try to befriend him anymore in the future, having him around too much could hinder Hei's objective of killing the organization's leaders.

Back in his apartment, Hei opened the letter and read the contents. There was a sheet of paper with data about a middle-aged man that he was supposed to eliminate. It was an easy target since the man wasn't even a contractor. Actually, he was a reporter that had stuck his nose a little too far into the Dornröschen's business and was to be silenced. Apparently, he would have to work his way up if he wanted to get more appealing missions than killing defenseless citizens. Hei would take care of the man this night, he decided. No use wasting time.

Since Hei didn't feel like sitting inside all day, he had a little stroll around the city, ate lunch at some restaurant and somehow ended up in front of the little café he had eaten in the day before. After a few seconds of deliberation, he shrugged his shoulders and headed inside. You could never eat enough before a mission and he definitely didn't want his stomach to act up while he was trying to slice some poor man's throat.

Hei was relieved when the same woman that had taken his order the last time, came to his table and greeted him in English. After he had ordered a coffee, he told the waitress to get him whatever cake she thought was best, because he couldn't figure out what the names on the menu meant at all. Luckily, she had a good taste and Hei quickly finished his slice before ordering more.

"You sure eat a lot", said a female voice, but Hei knew instantly that it wasn't the waitress. He turned around to see that it was a dark-haired woman from the neighboring table instead. All she had was a drink, likely coffee or something related to that. "Oh, excuse me, I just never saw somebody with such a big appetite before. Um, I'm Rem by the way."

Suddenly, Hei noticed that she had been speaking English this entire time. He stared at her dumbfounded.

"Er, you do speak English, right? I mean, I overheard that waitress talking to you in English. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't listen in on people's conversations, but, you see, you're sitting right next to me… Probably I'm just talking too much…" She trailed off at the end of the sentence giving Hei a short break in the endless stream of words, so that he could sort out the situation before answering.

"Yes, I understand." Hei quickly found back to his Li persona and managed to make himself blush a little.

The woman gave a bright smile and pointed to the free seat in front of her. "Why don't you come and join me, so I don't have to sit here all by myself?" She asked and Hei wondered, whether it would be a good idea or not. He didn't want to stick out too much and if too many people remembered him…

Still, he joined the woman, told her his name, and shook hands with her.

"So, you're Chinese, huh?" Apparently she was pretty sharp, despite her peculiar personality and obvious need to talk a lot. He nodded and continued to eat. The last thing he needed was for her to figure out more than she was supposed to. Maybe joining her wasn't a good idea after all.

For the rest of his meal, Hei was doomed to answer every question that Rem could think off. He didn't even know the woman's last name, but she already knew more about his fake personality than Hei when he had entered the restaurant. Also, she constantly called him by his first name, as if they were friends or even closer acquaintances while she was still practically a stranger.

Once he had finished the cakes, he waited a little while longer, before telling the woman that he had to go, because he had business to tend to. She waved him good-bye, her green eyes twinkling excitedly and Hei was relieved when he was finally able to escape the place.

* * *

><p>His "business" was already waiting for him, when Hei arrived in the small park. November was walking up and down, leaving a trail in the untouched snow.<p>

"Did you know that my ability is to freeze stuff?" November asked out of the blue and Hei was quick to shake his head. "That's why I like the winter. It makes everything so much easier when there is already so much water lying around." That was indeed convenient, Hei thought, since it also meant that his electricity would be conducted by the surroundings.

"Did everything work out alright?"

Hei only nodded and November seemed to be content with the reply. "Great. My superiors want information the day after tomorrow and it better be good or else you will be dead meat", he said and Hei wondered if it was okay to kill the agent if he attacked him at their next meeting. After all he wasn't sure if he could gather sufficient information in two days and if MI-6 really planned on taking him out as soon as he turned out to be useless, then he didn't want to worry about getting in trouble by the syndicate for killing November.

"Just joking. Actually, you had a really creepy look there for a while, September. Maybe I should watch my back", November mused. Bit by bit Hei was getting more frustrated by his contact person. He didn't feel like listening to bad jokes all day, but then again, it could be worse. For example another hour with Rem could be hell. Or maybe a day with Huang. Probably November wasn't as bad as many people. Hei shook his head. These kinds of thoughts were a certain hint to the fact that he would have to get home and get some rest.

"Are you alright? You look like you didn't get much sleep tonight. You know what happens to contractors that don't sleep well, right?" November now had a concerned look that Hei had probably never seen on a contractor's face before.

"I didn't even know that anything was supposed to happen, besides being tired all day." Now Hei was confused. He vaguely remembered that some dream had forced him to stay up half of the night and he had thought that dreams were a strange thing to have for a contractor, but he never thought that not sleeping was really that much of a problem.

"You don't know?" November asked seemingly shocked. "It's almost the same as not fulfilling the contracts. Fact is – you die. Ah you didn't really believe that, did you? I was just joking. You should know that much by now."

A sudden urge to murder November and everything else that was close by overcame Hei. Maybe Rem wasn't that bad at all. Or maybe he should just stay away from everybody all together.

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><p>It was weird to go out to kill without his trade-mark mask and cloak. Hei felt oddly naked to be precise and he also thought that he could sense other presences around from time to time, like someone was watching him. His powers were off limits for now, too, since he wasn't supposed to reveal himself and any activity at this point would only get unwanted attention. Especially since November was his contact and knew his ability all too well. At least his knives and wires wouldn't be too obvious a lead, so he had taken three of them.<p>

His target lived in the suburbs in a small, but slightly shabby neighborhood and Hei couldn't believe how easy this task actually was. The man lived alone in his house, had no family close by, no annoying animals, and no high-tech alarm system. Maybe they had left out something in the information he had gotten.

When he was able to enter through an unlocked backdoor, Hei started to seriously worry about his mission. This was just too easy; it was almost like somebody wanted him to succeed. Or maybe the subject of his mission was just extremely naïve. The house looked fairly normal from the inside – not extravagant furniture, nothing that stuck out to him, just the simple house of a journalist that wasn't earning too much money on his job.

The bedroom was supposed to be on the second floor, so Hei quickly looked for the stairs and found them after a few minutes of sneaking around. Finally, there was a small obstacle in his way, as the stairs looked old and were likely to creak under his steps. His worries turned out to be true as every step he took made the aged wood groan gently at the weight of his body. With the house being dark and quiet, the sounds seemed much louder than they were supposed to and they appeared somewhat bizarre after the long silence before.

When Hei had made it upstairs, he could only hope that his victim wasn't awake yet. He slowly inched closer to the first door in the small and dark hallway he found himself in and carefully opened it. Of course it just had to let out a grating sound that resounded through the almost empty house like the shriek of something that was about to die a cruel death. Quickly, he stopped pushing any further and peeked inside as well as he could instead of opening it all the way. Apparently he had just found some kind of a work room with a computer sitting on a desk and papers strewn all over it. Even though this was pretty much all he could make out, Hei could tell that this wasn't a bedroom, so he moved on to the next door.

This room turned out to be much easier to inspect than the last one, as the door didn't make a sound when he pushed against the white wood. Instead it opened instantly to reveal a bed and a person, buried under the covers from head to toe – probably because of the extreme cold. Hei warily inched closer to the bed and hoped that the man wouldn't wake up before he was stabbed. This had been an uncomplicated job so far and he sure didn't want it to end in a mess.

Finally, he stood at the bed, right in front of the sleeping body and quickly let his knife slice through the blanket and into the pillows that were propped beneath. He stared at the feathery mess he had made for a couple of seconds, completely flabbergasted. Had this journalist just used one of the most cliché tricks ever on him? How could he fall for something as simple as this? The man had most likely heard him on the stairs or he had noticed the loud squeak the door had made and now he was hiding somewhere.

The lights turned on and Hei swiftly turned around to see a journalist in his pajamas with brown hair sticking up on one side of his head and dark rings under his eyes. A pocket knife was held by one shaking hand, while the other was still lingering at the light switch as the man seemed to be frozen from fear. With Hei being a skilled assassin, it didn't take him long to adapt to the new situation and he quickly charged at the man, avoiding the aimlessly swung knife in the process and tying one of his wires around the man's throat, ready to strangle him to death.

Shortly before his target would have fainted, Hei saw the picture. It was fairly big and leaned on one of the dressers in the room, as if the owner had never found the time to place it on the wall. Hei had almost forgotten the dream he had had that morning, but now all of it came crashing back to his memories like a big flood of information. The grass, the purple sky, the moon, and somebody that was watching him.

That picture was like a replica of his dream. It was downright frightening to see his own mind's product painted on a canvas.

"Where did you get that?" he asked the man with a slightly hoarse voice and let go of the wire a bit so that the man was able to speak. "Do you only speak English? Please, don't kill me. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, just don't kill me. I beg you. I -"

Impatiently, Hei pulled the wire tighter again and successfully cut off the man's rambling. When his victim only let out a couple of strangled sounds, he loosened it again and repeated his question. The man took a deep breath and explained in a quivering and faint voice: "I found it on a flea market. There was this guy who was selling all kinds of weird pictures. I just thought it looked interesting, so I bought it."

"What did he look like? Was he acting somehow suspicious? Did you talk to him?" The questions kept pouring out of him and the man flinched every time Hei's voice got a little bit too loud.

"Please, let go of me", he tried again, but Hei answered with a low growl and the man began his explanation: "As I said, I was on the flea market and the man was just one of the people that had set up a stand there. I didn't talk much to him or nothing, but he did seem out of his mind. Sort of. Do you understand, like he was about to go crazy or something. And he looked as if he didn't sleep well either. Terribly pale and pitch black rings under his eyes. They were kind of dull too, his eyes, as if there was barely any life left in them. And he was looking around a lot. As if he was paranoid and waiting for something bad to happen. There were other pictures, too, you know. Like a bunch of them were showing some woman and then there were more like this one, but slightly different. Oh, and some of them showed other random stuff, but I don't remember. Please, will you let me go now? I gave you all the information-"

Again, Hei interrupted him with a pull on the wire. He waited patiently, undisturbed by the sounds the man made. Finally, his task was done and his victim was lying on the ground, lifeless.

* * *

><p>There was a big field of grass, glistening in a slight silver gleam due to the moonlight that was flooding the ground. The scenery seemed somehow familiar, but Hei couldn't put a finger on the memory, that was trying to come back to his mind. A huge tree was standing some meters away from him and it was swaying in the same hypnotizing rhythm as the grass was; back and forth, back and forth, calling out to him.<p>

Hei took one gentle step towards the tree, then another and another, quickly picking up on his pace, until he was running as fast as he could. However, the tree wouldn't come closer; it refused to meet him!

After it went on like that for some time, Hei fell down in the grass from exhaustion and listened to his own heaving breaths. He could feel the grass under his body and some of the blades around him were gently stroking the skin on his face and hands. Slowly, he closed his eyes and sunk into a deeper, now dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, dear readers, you may have wondered (or not) why I would use Europe or Germany as the location for this story. The reason is simple. All this was inspired by a dream that was set in a German place. In order to hold on to the feeling of that dream, I kept the location almost the same. All I did was change the city to Bielefeld. I've actually been there before, so I feel more confident about describing it then I would about describing Tokyo, anyways.

I hope you like it so far. I will upload more in two weeks.

Scio Nescio


	3. Chapter 2: Death of an Artist

**A/N: **Here is the next chapter as promised two weeks ago. Have fun with it.

**Chapter 2: Death of an Artist**

Hei was sitting in a huge tree that was standing in a meadow. It was night and the moonlight was giving the whole scene an odd silver shine. Somebody was sitting next to him, but he couldn't make out the person's features. "What is going on here?" he asked, for something was definitely going on. How could the moon be in the sky if it had vanished so many years ago? And now that he thought about it, he didn't even remember how he got on this tree in the first place. The sky had an odd purple color, too.

"Don't think about it too much", a soft female voice wavered over to him and Hei felt great calmness spread through his body. It was a nice feeling of security that suffused his whole body with a deep comfort.

The voice continued, just as gentle as it had started: "Someone will try to kill you. I cannot directly show you his face, but you will figure it out sooner or later." The feeling changed to one of fear, sudden panic overwhelming all his senses and making the hairs on his arms stand up.

He wanted to ask for a hint, but he couldn't open his mouth as a cold wind swept over the field and it started to snow. The grass was slowly withering away and the moon's light waned as dark storm-clouds took over the sky.

"Be careful!" the voice – now distorted and spooky – warned one last time, before Hei awakened shivering.

* * *

><p>"Welcome to the "Dornröschen"-Organization", Alexander exclaimed in a cheery voice and Hei barely withstood the urge to send an electrical current through his hand. "I'm glad you made it. So, I got your next mission right here, wait a second" – he dove under the counter and rummaged a bit, before he pulled out another letter – "Here it is. I wish you fun; you'll need it since you are paired with Alfred. He doesn't really know what fun is. But then again, you're both contractors, so maybe you'll get along just fine." With a dramatic huff he ended his little speech and stared at Hei with a friendly smile.<p>

"You look pale, did you sleep well? Ah, by the way, the meeting room for team missions is in the 4rth floor, just take the elevator right there", Alexander added and pointed to the right. Hei thanked him for the information and took off in the indicated direction. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long until he could enter the small cabin, but once the doors close, Hei could feel a tiny bit of the panic that had overcome him during his dream. Even though he knew that this feeling was completely irrational, he couldn't suppress it and he shuddered once as he thought of the cold breeze that had ended his dream.

Actually, he had almost forgotten about it with all the other important matters that he had to tend to during the day. There was hardly any time when he was able to consider such trivial things as nightmares.

Still, Hei was relieved, when the machine gave him a short `pling` and he was able to leave its constricted space and enter the big spacious area. There were several couches and comfortable looking armchairs scattered across the room, some of them arranged together and some of them standing alone in more deserted corners of the room.

"Suchen Sie jemanden bestimmtes?" a voice asked and Hei turned to the right to see an employee dressed in the same kind of black suit that Alexander wore every day – probably some kind of uniform. The man looked at him with a neutral expression as he awaited his answer and Hei replied apologetically: "Sorry, I don't speak German".

"I asked if you were looking for someone in particular", the man repeated his question patiently. Obviously he was used to seeing foreigners in the organization. Since he didn't know his partner's name, he had to pull out the letter and take a look at the instructions.

"It's Mr. Alfred Schneider." Okay, that was one hard to pronounce last name and Hei was sure that he had made at least a dozen mistakes, but he didn't care, as long as this person understood what he meant. Indeed, the man nodded and pointed at a middle-aged man sitting in a lonely armchair and reading a book. After he had thanked the employee, Hei made his way towards his partner-for-the-day.

"So, you are today my partner?" the man asked with a heavy German accent that made the words sound rough and somehow hard in contrast to the normal, smooth flow of the English language. Neither of the two employees he had met so far had spoken in such a way.

"Yes, I already took a look at the mission description and there weren't any hints on what the target's ability is, so I suggest we try to observe him today and if necessary tomorrow in order to find out more details", Hei stated neutrally and the man let out a short laugh.

"We will not need that sort of preparation. My powers alone will be enough to kill him and I heard that your powers are good too. We will at 7:00 in the evening meet in front of the house of the target", Mr. Schneider explained and Hei only listened and nodded at the end. If his partner was sure about this thing, then he was probably right. "Well, I'll go until then, I guess." With those words Hei took his leave and went back to the apartment, in order to prepare his weapons for later. On the way out, Alexander tried to small-talk to him again, but Hei excused himself by saying, that he didn't feel too well which was actually true.

After his dream about the warning, he had woken up several times, shivering from head to toe because of some nightmare. This was unlike him and most definitely unlike a contractor. If those dreams that he wasn't supposed to have were to continue, he would have to get help somehow, but he didn't feel like using his emergency number again just to bother Huang. Not that the grumpy human would be able to help him. The Syndicate wouldn't even care about those trivial anomalies. After all he was only a contractor, something replaceable.

Once he was back in his current home, he set his tools on a table. Then, he got a glance of his bed and felt an undeniable urge to take a nap. Just a short one, since it was already past noon. Maybe a couple of hours would help him become less like the sleep-deprived zombie he felt he was. Even Alexander had noticed and to Hei it didn't seem like he was the sharpest tool in the box.

Thus, Hei slumped down on the bed and was buried under his covers within minutes. For some time he slept dreamlessly, but soon he started to toss and turn, as a cold wind was blowing him through a dim, dreamy world.

* * *

><p>When Hei woke up, it was only a couple of minutes before seven and he knew that he was going to be late. Not terribly late, just about ten minutes, still a perfectly reasonable time to arrive. The victim they were after this time lived outside of town in some house that was far away from any other signs of civilization. Luckily a bus took him pretty close to his destination and Hei only had to walk a small part of the way until he arrived at his destination.<p>

Mr. Schneider was already there and wore a rather unhappy expression which made Hei wonder, if their target was maybe not home or if something else had interfered with their plans. What Hei didn't expect, though, was that he was the cause auf Schneider's fury.

"You are late", the man snarled and Hei took a quick glance at his watch in order to find out, that it was barely 7:08. "Uh, we were supposed to meet at seven, right?" He asked, just to be sure, that he hadn't made a mistake. Maybe Schneider had said 6?

"Yes, and it's way past 7 by now. But now that you are here we should start with our mission. I don't want that person to get suspicious." With that, Schneider started to walk towards the house and Hei followed speechless. How could someone be so strict about punctuality?

Just walking up to your killing victim's front door felt wrong. Hei was used to sneaky assassinations, but not to simply walking up to a guy and slitting his throat. His partner must be fairly confident, if he didn't even plan to take the back door. Now, all that he could hope was, that this didn't end in a total tragedy and that Schneider knew what he was doing.

Even though they entered by forcefully breaking down the door, nobody was there to welcome them with an attack – what had happened to 'I don't want that person to get suspicious', anyways? Hei had to admit that the fact that no one had reacted was sort of unsettling. Maybe they were running straight into an ambush.

At least the lack of enemies had made Schneider more wary and he started to look uneasy with the way their mission was going. "Something is wrong", was all he had to say though, before he started exploring the house. Hei, too, felt uncomfortable, because their enemy could be lurking anywhere, ready to strike. What if they weren't prepared for whatever kind of power he held? Actually, he didn't even have the slightest clue as to what his partner's power was.

Thus, he quickly asked the question: "So, what exactly is that ability of yours?"

"I make people sleep", he answered in that clumsy English of his and Hei looked at him startled. "What, like some sort of sleeping pill?"  
>Schneider laughed a short, but hearty laugh and replied: "Yes, but with no pill. I do not know how it exactly works, but it has something to do with brainwaves." Hei nodded in understanding and they went on. There was nobody in the first couple of rooms they searched and Hei's gut told him, that something was terribly wrong with the way this mission went. This feeling only got stronger when they were done checking the whole house with no results whatsoever.<p>

"He is supposed to be here. The mission description said that he did not leave his house for many days." Schneider looked through all the rooms again and seemed to be thoroughly worried.

"I think I've seen what looks like a shack in the backyard, we should take a look at it", Hei suggested, so they left the house through the backdoor and cautiously approached the old wooden cabin that looked like it was about to fall apart. Carefully, he pressed down the doorknob and pushed. Both of them were confronted with a dark space with spider webs all over the place and junk standing everywhere. It was only a couple of seconds after they had opened the door, that they could hear a quiet giggle. They stared at the crammed cabin, puzzled as they hadn't expected something like that in the least.

"Sie sind also gekommen", a voice said, followed by a hysterical laugh. "Ich habe auf Sie beide gewartet, wissen Sie?"

"He was prepared", was all that Schneider said. Then, he indicated for Hei to take the right, while he made his path through the mess on the left side.

"Oh, you are English? Well, I didn't know that. One can't know everything, I guess", commented the man with another snicker. "Now die!" He screamed with a voice that completely revealed his total insanity with those two words. This was far to cliché for Hei to believe. Apparently this man was entirely out of his mind and didn't know what he was doing.

Then, he realized why their enemy seemed so confident, as the cabin caught on fire. He immediately felt reminded of Mai, a moratorium he had met once. However, this man was not Mai, but a contractor trained as a killer just like him. Even if he was absolutely mad, he still was a dangerous foe, somebody, he better not underestimate.

"I cannot use my powers on him without to touch him!" Schneider shouted from the other side of the shack while Hei was desperately trying to find their target. Had he already left them? Or would he wait inside until they were dead? Either way, he had to get out of there fast, before the smoke could obscure his senses. Just before he could reach the door though, he saw something move in his peripheral vision.

Without thinking about it twice, Hei sent his knife and wire out for a deadly hit, but missed as his target quickly jumped away. Another wire was quickly thrown after his enemy and got stuck in an old cabinet right behind him. Luckily, the wire was still touching the man's shoulder and it was his obliviousness towards Hei's powers that finally gave Hei an advantage. A strong electrical surge was sent through the wire and his victim shook while his knees buckled and he crashed to the ground.

Unfortunately, the contact had been too short to knock him out, so he got a chance to attack Hei straight on. Hei's shirt caught fire quickly and he dove out of his opponent's way in order to roll on the ground and extinguish the fire. After he had stumbled out of the shack, Hei turned around, to see that the other man was close behind him, ready for another assault. Therefore he got ready to throw another knife, but stopped his actions when the man's body went limp and he sank to the ground, asleep, revealing Schneider who stood behind him.

Schneider took out a knife and swiftly slit their target's throat, completing their mission. Finally, Hei was able to relax his muscles that were tense from the fierce battle. Without saying a word, they left the body behind, turned their backs to the scene of crime and started their way back to the bus station.

"So, my payment is that I have to go to a bar. What is your payment?" Schneider asked and Hei tried to think of a convenient lie. He didn't want to tell this man, that he didn't have to pay for using his powers. Just at that moment, his stomach gave a loud rumble and he unceremoniously devised a story about how he had to eat unusually huge amounts of food.

"Alright, I will show you then the best bar in Bielefeld and you can eat there and I will spend my payment time." Apparently, when Schneider proposed something, he expected everybody to do as he said, for he didn't even ask, if his idea was okay with Hei. Luckily it played directly into his hands, because he had to find out more about the organization anyways and an evening in a bar seemed to be just as fine as everything else he could think of. All he had to find out was the superiors' names as well as the powerful contractors' names and if they had any data on MI-6. Hopefully, Schneider would reveal all the information he needed during this one evening so Hei could be done with this part of his job. Maybe Huang had been wrong when he had said that this would take a couple of weeks.

* * *

><p>The place that Schneider had brought him to was small, but it wasn't too crowded, so that they actually found a good spot to sit down and talk without bunches of noisy people around. At first they talked about general matters – Schneider asked how Hei's power worked and they conversed about former missions. Hei deftly steered the conversation into the direction he wanted it to take and they were soon down to business, talking about the organization and its members.<p>

At some point, Hei had found out the names of the top five contractors in the organization. According to his instructions, those were to be taken out along with the people pulling the strings – except of course, if they decided to switch sides in the face of a life-threatening condition and decided to join the enemy ranks, which was a normal thing for a contractor to do. Schneider was one of them and told stories about several missions that he had completed along with the other rather powerful contractors.

All of those anecdotes were delivered in that harsh voice and with those little grammatical errors companying most of the sentences. Still, it was understandable and the most important information – that is to say the names – were clearly pronounced; more clearly than Hei would ever be able to.

After Hei had finished the tons of food he usually consumed, Schneider ordered him to stay and drink a beer or two with him. That was one thing he had found out about him: He never asked you to do something, but ordered you instead. At first this habit was frustrating, because it made Hei feel as if he was a little child that had to be told what to do in order to accomplish anything. After a while though, he had learned to just go with it. Especially since Schneider didn't really seem to care if he actually followed his orders or not. Thus he agreed to stay and drank a beer, just like Schneider wanted him to. After all he didn't know when he would get such an excellent shot at important information again.

* * *

><p>An annoying ringing sound woke Misaki from her sleep. A glance at the clock told her, that it was still the middle of night, as she headed for the phone that had disrupted her sleep. Her tired voice was met with Kanami's excited one as the woman hastily talked to her: "Guess what, I was working the late shift, when I saw activity from BK201. He wasn't using his power long enough for me to locate him, but he doesn't even seem to be in Japan. Ah, wait, he is using his power again – I'll get him this time, just a little more… Yes, there we go, it's Europe. Apparently he is in a city named Bielefeld in Germany. Isn't that weird?"<p>

Finally, Misaki found a pause in Kanami's ramblings and managed to answer her: "Are you sure that your data didn't get messed up somehow? By the way, I'm on vacation, so you should call someone else." Actually, she felt herself getting excited, because there hadn't been any activity from BK201 lately and her job had felt sort of meaningless ever since. The sign of life she had just gotten from the contractor felt comforting, as if she wouldn't have to chase after low-level criminals anymore in the near future.

Still, she was on vacation and didn't have to worry about a contractor that was going on a rampage in a different country. If she decided to go abroad for vacation however…

"I got to go, keep me informed!" was the last thing she yelled into the phone, her voice full of excitement, before she hung up and got ready for a little field trip. Good thing she had saved up some money over the years and flights had become a lot cheaper thanks to the new technologies found in the gates. Traveling between countries was now something that everybody could easily afford, so she booked the next flight, hoping to catch BK201 while he didn't expect it the least.

* * *

><p>The next day, Hei didn't have any missions to complete, so he took a stroll around the city. Christmas was drawing closer and he saw people preparing their little stalls for the Christmas market that was supposed to open that weekend.<p>

At a corner he found a little kiosk that was selling newspapers. Curious as to whether they had found the dead body they had left after their mission yet, he gave it a quick glance. Indeed, there was an article on the front page saying "Dead artist found in his garden – most of his works miraculously survived a fire". Since the man in the kiosk gave him a stare that was telling him to buy the paper instead of reading it for free, he purchased it and found a bench to sit down on.

Inside the article, there was a picture of their target before he died and also one of the halfway burned down shack. There were various painted pictures in the corner that was photographed and the fire hadn't reached a single one of them. It must have been further in the back, because Hei hadn't noticed them while he had been there. Apparently the fire department had stopped the fire before it had spread to the paintings, but some of them were ruined because of the water they had used.

Others though remained completely dry and the motives on those seemed eerily familiar.

Two showed silver grass under a purple sky, but one of them was dominated by a big, black tree, while the other one simply showed the grass and nothing else. Some of the other pictures showed places he had never seen before – some of them seemed real and others look like they were pictures of some messed up fantasy world. One or two portrayed oddly familiar streets that he could swear he had been to on one of his walks.

He had definitely seen the silver grass in a couple of dreams. Sadly, his memory of those wasn't too good, but he was pretty sure about it. Actually, some of those dreams had been nightmares, if he remembered right. Shouldn't contractors be immune to dreaming in the first place? Actually, he did remember dreaming that weird dream this night again, with that field of silver grass, the purple sky and then a snow storm coming to destroy everything. This storm probably had something to do with the fact that it was winter. Maybe he hadn't seen it on the pictures, because that man had had those dreams during summer.

Probably the scene of his crime was swarmed with policemen at the moment, so he couldn't go back and take a direct look at the paintings. When he returned to his apartment, his head was swimming, trying to figure out this mess. He would have to talk to another contractor and ask them whether they had ever dreamed before and then he would have to figure out why other people seemed to see the exact same things as he did.

Another important question was, why both of his targets where somehow involved with those dreams. Could it be pure coincidence? Most likely not. Did it concern him? Definitely. So, as soon as he got his next solo mission, he would have to interrogate his victim properly before he could kill it.

* * *

><p>This time, he arrived at the meeting place before November 11. Still, he did not have to wait too long, until the MI-6 agent arrived.<p>

"September! You remember how I told you that winter was my favorite season?" he began the conversation and Hei nodded a little confused. "Well, it is, but I still prefer sitting in a warm and dry place as opposed to getting drenched by rain. So what do you say to switching locations?"

Indeed it had started to rain earlier that day and the snow had turned into an ugly, muddy mess. The weather felt rather uncomfortable to Hei too, so he suggested the little café he had been to twice before. When they finally sat inside the café, he started his report by describing the details of his latest missions, before he gave November the names that Schneider had spilled along with some information concerning the contractors' abilities. "Schneider is probably the most dangerous amongst them all. He doesn't say so himself, but putting your enemy to sleep definitely gives you the upper hand in every fight."

November nodded in agreement; he seemed deep in thought. Hei hadn't been able to get any more information except for those names that evening, but it was already much and November seemed to try and sort everything out. All that was left was to get the names of the organization's leader and all the information they got on MI-6, which would be an easy task, now that he could move around their office freely.

Thus, the meeting would be over any minute now, but Hei decided to prolong it for a while in order to satisfy his curiosity concerning the dreams. Maybe he should start with something else, though, so that he could disguise his later questions in a harmless conversation.

"So, why exactly does MI-6 have to hire another contractor for this mission?" he asked the question that had kept his mind busy ever since his arrival.

"You don't know? Well, there's a lot that can go wrong during an infiltration mission, so we needed someone disposable. Just joking. Actually, we just can't tell if they know all of our names or how many they know. So, it'd be too dangerous to infiltrate them with one of our people."

Hei did not think that the 'joke' that November had just made was too funny, but then again, none ever were. Maybe they were just an odd quirk of his, just like Schneider, who always ordered people around. Lucky he didn't have any strange behavior.

"You sure are eating a lot", November commented on Hei's tenth cake that vanished just as quickly as the ones before. "I guess I have a pretty big stomach", he explained and then continued to his most important question. "Say, are contractors supposed to dream?"

November gave him a confused look and shook his head. "Why? Who told you that sort of thing? I mean, I don't remember having any dreams, but people also say that you forget most of your dreams as soon as you wake up. Why are you asking?" he wanted to know immediately and only cocked one eyebrow when Hei just shrugged.

"Are you having weird dreams?" November immediately asked. Why did this agent have to be this observant? "It's not really important, I guess" Hei stated vaguely in order to stop the conversation. Luckily November caught his hint and refrained from digging any deeper.

When Hei finished his meal, they left the café and went their separate ways. Hei felt unsatisfied, because November didn't seem to have the slightest clue concerning his problem and now he had probably even gotten the agent suspicious. This was just great.

* * *

><p>Silver grass, purple sky, a huge black tree, clouds coming in from the right, dark clouds, stormy clouds…<p>

"Turn around", a voice, a familiar voice. It had warned him before. That woman, he remembered, they had sat in a tree together. She wanted to help him. Hei turned around and to his surprise the well-known scenery was gone. Instead he found himself in Bielefeld – busy streets, snow covering the ground. There was something he had to do, but he didn't remember what.

"You have to kill your enemy, remember? I still can't show you his face, but you will have to kill him. Quick!" Without knowing what he was doing, he started to wander aimlessly through the streets, looking around the people for a sign of his enemy. All he could conclude from the voice' instructions was that it was a male person. But he had to find this man, because this voice wanted to help him, wanted to protect him. It was a nice voice, a calm voice, a voice that told his rational mind, that following its words would lead to something good.

He was running through the streets now, while a snowstorm started to drown the city in an icy mess. Where was his enemy? He didn't know, but he had to find him. His life depended on it. Good thing he knew the streets of Bielefeld well due to his walks, so he wouldn't get lost. Still, there was no sign of the enemy.

Then, he wondered what day it was. Didn't he have to go to the organization to pick up his next mission letter? The search would have to wait, or else they would find out that he was a spy.

Quickly, Hei changed directions and made his way towards the office, fighting against a freezing snowstorm.

"Your mission is not important right now. Kill your enemy, before he can kill you!"

Since when was he hearing things, anyways? Wasn't it odd that some random voice was giving him directions? Why then did it feel so right to do as it said? Why did he feel like his life depended on it? And where did Bielefeld go? Who had replaced the city by a field full of grass that was shining silver in the light of the moon?

He could feel something stab him through his back and right into his heart and the iciness of death surrounded him.

In the middle of the night he awoke with a scream, shaking as if he had spent his time sleeping in a freezer. It had been a dream. Again. If this continued on, he wouldn't even get enough sleep to go to work the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Again, thanks for the reviews! Especially to Junoan who pointed out that some weird gibberish (quote "eHehewaksdflhewrH'") had slipped into my 1st chapter. I really don't know how it got there, but I removed it now...

I don't think that it's necessary to translate any of the German in this story, since the characters seem to do a pretty good job already. The only word that's not directly translated would be the organization's name which is "Dornröschen" - Sleeping Beauty, just like the fairy-tail.

As always point out mistakes if you find any, so I can correct them!

Next chapter will be up in two weeks as usual...

Scio Nescio


	4. Chapter 3: About that Butterfly

**A/N: **After a long day, I feel really happy to be at home right now. Since it's pretty late here, I won't correct those mistakes that Dear4Life kindly pointed out at the moment, because I'm just too worn out from work. I will however take a look at them tomorrow and update the corrected version. Well then, I won't bother you with this note any longer... have fun reading this chapter!

**Chapter 3: About that Butterfly**

He was running through Bielefeld's streets, looking for something. Sadly, he didn't remember what it was he was looking for, but maybe he would recognize it once he found it. Snow was swirling all around him, clouding his vision, as he turned around another corner and headed further into a random direction.

There was a deserted park that was buried in snow and he entered it, fighting to continue on in the deep snow. A little lake was completely frozen over and he carefully took a step onto the ice, trying not to slip and fall. The cold came through his shoes and his feet felt as if they were about to freeze off, but that didn't stop him on his way across the frozen water.

When he was at the middle of the lake, the ice suddenly broke and he fell. The sharp edges of the hole cut into his body and ripped some of his clothes. Blood floated around him, as his drenched clothes dragged him deeper, closer to the bottom. Now his whole body was trembling with the iciness that took over his limbs and paralyzed him.

Helpless, he tried to reach for the surface, but he couldn't move because of the cold. His mouth opened in a silent scream and as he ran out of oxygen, his lungs automatically tried to draw a breath – and succeeded.

He could breath! Fresh oxygen streamed into his lungs and suddenly he didn't feel like he was dying anymore. When he reached the ground of the lake, he noticed, that he was standing on a huge plain full of grass. Suddenly his clothes were dry again and he felt totally secure and calm, as the moon shone down on him with its silver glow.

"You lost. Try it again". A female voice was talking to him, but there was no one there. When he turned around to find the speaker, he found himself back in Bielefeld's streets.

What was he doing here? Ah, right, he had to find and take out his enemy. Quickly, he began to run.

Wait. He wasn't even supposed to be outside. The last thing Hei remembered was going to sleep in his bed. Was this a dream? Hadn't he been in the world with the silver grass just a couple of minutes ago?

Somehow, he had to escape this nightmare. He had to wake up.

* * *

><p>And wake up he did. A couple of times that night. Actually, he didn't get much sleep at all, so when he went to Dornröschen in order to get his next mission, he looked rather sleep deprived.<p>

"Hi Hui!" the loud voice of Alexander Seidel greeted him. A headache had bothered Hei since the beginning of the day and this man was only making it worse. "Ah, you don't look good at all. Did you get enough sleep? If you got any problems that are keeping you up all night, you can always talk to me, you know? Have you tried sleeping medicine? I heard it's not too good to take them over a long time, because they make your dreams go away and that's unhealthy, but maybe you should use them a couple of nights. You look like you just got hit by a car or something."

Hei lifted his hand in order to make the enthusiastic young man stop. Luckily he got what he wanted and Alexander gave him a concerned, but quiet stare. His brain took some time to process all the words that had left Alexander's mouth, so he only noticed the vital part of the information after a couple of seconds. Right, he was tired because those dreams had kept him up all night. He had almost forgotten about them and even now their content was rather blurry, but that was not important at the moment.

"They suppress dreams?" he asked and Alexander nodded. "Well, they make it so you have less, I think, or I think somebody said that. Oh, I heard that contractors don't dream, anyways. So, is that true?"

"Yes, it is. Well, I'm fine, so don't worry. All I need is some distraction right now, so if you would give me my letter please?"

It was handed to him and he unceremoniously ripped it open. As usual his mission was described in an orderly manner with all the information he needed to complete it. The letter didn't tell him why he had to kill the woman whose picture was with the description, but he didn't really care either. Apparently, the woman was going to take a train to Berlin in an hour, so he would have to hurry up and get to her, before she could leave.

Thus, Hei left the building, saying good-bye to Alexander and stepped out on the street.

After it had rained the previous day, the temperature had sunken drastically again, so that in the morning snow was again slowly floating towards the ground. By now the weather had changed and a cold wind was blowing into Hei's face. It felt like the snowflakes were trying to attack him – a storm was gathering.

Since he didn't have much time Hei started to run in the direction of the bus station. He didn't know how important this mission was, but he didn't want to mess up, just because he was to slow. As he was running through the crowd, the storm gained intensity, and he had to fight a swirling white mess with every step he took.

Hadn't he been in a situation like this before? Yes, in his dreams! This was a dream and he was chasing after some phantom again, someone, he would never reach. And as always, this would lead to his death and he would find himself in that field full of silver grass!

He had to wake up as quickly as possible; he didn't want to experience his own death again. Confused, Hei looked around for something that could wake him up. Usually, just wishing for it was enough, but this time it didn't seem to work. 'Concentrate', he thought to himself and tried harder. It didn't work.

Frustrated, Hei tried the slapping method that he had heard about. Then again, who knew if something like this actually worked? Why wouldn't his usual concentration on the wish work? Or was he not dreaming after all?

This was too confusing. If he was dreaming, he would find out sooner or later once he died and ended up in that field. If he wasn't, then he should better get to the train station. His time was running thin and he didn't even get close yet.

He decided that it was best to just go with it, no matter if he was dreaming or not, and started a sprint towards the train station, all the while fighting against the thick snow.

* * *

><p>The woman was inside a crowded train station, but Hei was used to difficulties like this and spotted her quickly. Nervously, she was looking around every few seconds while waiting on the train that was running late. When a person accidentally came into contact with her, she flinched anxiously and almost got into a battle stance. This was one weird contractor, showing all that emotion.<p>

This was too easy, a victim as scared as her would be easy to manipulate. Before, he had been concerned about executing her at a public train station, but her obvious behavior made things absurdly easy.

Carefully, he closed in on his target until he was in speaking range. He had been walking casually, as if he was here to take the train that still hadn't arrived. Her eyes darted all around the station, examining every by-passer, looking for potential threads.

As her attention was preoccupied with whatever was going on in the other direction for a moment, Hei took his chance to lay a hand on her shoulder. She turned around quickly, but didn't scream. Apparently, she was a professional.

"I am not here to kill you. All I want is for you to follow me quietly. My ability is transmitted by touch and I could instantly kill you, but we want you alive, so will you come with me?"

Cold eyes stared into his, as the woman replied: "Too bad, my ability is an instant kill, too. I noticed you from the beginning, by the way. I am prepared to take you out if you try anything. MI-6 does not employ weaklings. You should have known that before trying to attack me."

She was working for MI-6? This was bad. What was he supposed to do now?

"Wait, are you really working for them?" he tried to confirm. Maybe this was just a bluff. Still, why would she be lying like that?

"Yes, that's why you're trying to take me out, isn't it?" Now she seemed slightly confused, so Hei decided to take his hand off of her in order to calm her down a bit.

"I am, too. Actually, I am working for MI-6 as an undercover agent in Dornröschen. Erm, how about you keep a low profile for a couple of weeks, while I'm completing my mission. I'll tell them that I killed you, sound like a good idea?"

She still looked suspicious. "I'll confirm this with the superiors first. What's your codename?" Codename? Oh right, November had called him by the name of September a couple of times. So that was probably his Codename. He told her and she soon started to talk to somebody on the phone.

When she hung up, she seemed to be satisfied. "Alright, I'll play possum while you complete your mission. I'm Wednesday by the way." They shook hands and Hei was about to turn around and leave, when she added: "You should seriously get some sleep. Is Dornröschen keeping you busy day and night? Because that's what you are looking like. Anyways, see you!"

On the way back to the organization's office, he thought about her words. Before he would give them his mission report, he would stop by a pharmacy. Only problem was how to find one in Germany if he didn't even know what it was called.

* * *

><p>After he had given his report to Alexander, he went to his favorite little café across the street and had an espresso. Afterwards, he had some more. This sleeplessness was getting to him and he had to stop it, before he ended up in some zombie-like state, where he was just crawling from one mission to the next, unable to comprehend what it was he was doing. Then, once he was too tired, his enemies would have an easy time killing him off for good. No, he definitely didn't want to end like that.<p>

When he was done stuffing himself with all the different kinds of delicious cake, he sat for some more time, enjoying the relative quietness of the café. Outside was pure hell due to the Christmas market that had opened that day. People were crowding the streets even though it was barely afternoon. They were eating roasted almonds, fried fish, candied apples, French crêpes, and of course curry sausages. Along with those typical foods, they downed hot wine to keep themselves warm.

Hei had heard about those things, but he had never actually been to a Christmas market. It was too crowded for his likings, even though some of the foods looked rather tempting.

Still, this café offered him all the nutrition he wanted and it was much quieter with no annoying people around that could bump into him or try to start conversation.

* * *

><p>"He left the woman alive", the little boy said and the woman laughed.<p>

"I didn't expect anything else, my dear SWS. She is his ally after all." The woman answered and snickered in a slightly mad fashion. "It was far more fun hearing of him losing his mind, though." She then added with gleaming eyes. "Tell me where he is at now, I feel like having some fun."

"Yes, REM." The boy said and concentrated on his observer spirit. Soon he found the contractor that he was supposed to watch and told his mistress the exact location. "He is in that café again, but he is not eating anymore. Now he is getting up and leaving. He is out on the street and heading south"

The woman left him in the story of the huge building they were living in, so he sat there emotionlessly and waited for her to return.

* * *

><p>"Hui!" a voice called out to him. "Hui, is that you?" as he turned around, he was met by I familiar face. The annoying woman from the café – Rem, was it? – was standing behind him, giving him an excited look. "Hey, let's take a look at the Christmas market together. It opened today!" she exclaimed and Hei's headache came back pounding furiously.<p>

"Uh, I have to go somewhere", he tried to explain, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him along. "Actually, would you know where I could find a pharmacy?"

"Huh? Yes, I do. Are you sick? Now that you say it, you look kind of messed up with those dark rings under your eyes. Like some kind of criminal." She gave him a concerned glance and started to pull on him even harder. "Come on, I'll take you to a pharmacy."

At least she was good for something.

Some painkillers later his headache was gone. Also, there was some medicine in his pocket, which was supposed to give him a deep, dreamless sleep, which was something that Hei was looking forward, too. However, these nice little purchases of his meant, that his former pretext for leaving did no longer work out too good. Thus, he came with Rem, since he didn't want to tell her another excuse for leaving after she had just helped him.

The snowstorm from before had stopped, but it had left its cold air behind. Nevertheless, the sun was shining now and the snow was glistening brightly. Rem had to take a look at every booth on their way, marveling at the hand-made wooden toys, or the scented candles that were sold. From what he could observe on the other people, her behavior seemed to be rather normal, since most of them were doing the exact same thing. If they were going to go on at this pace, it would take forever to get through this.

Hei readied himself for a long evening.

* * *

><p>As the sun was setting they stood in front of a little booth that was selling champignons in some white gravy. Hei had to admit that they actually tasted rather good and he quickly ordered some more, before Rem could drag him on. By now the lights had come to life, giving the market a beautiful glow and he felt as if it was Christmas already, even though there was still one month to go. The snow was now glistening in all kinds of different colors, illuminated by the colorful lights and the whole scenery felt surreal, like a part of some dream.<p>

This train of thought led Hei back to the question he had had earlier that day. What if he was dreaming? How could he find out if all of this was even real? How could anyone be sure about what was real and what was not? After all, no one could be one hundred percent certain. Hei could have been dreaming all of this, his whole trip to Germany. Or maybe he wasn't even a contractor at all!

Had he not heard this story where a man was debating, whether he was a human that dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly that dreamed of being a human? This whole thing got rather confusing and Hei's headache threatened to come back to live and overpower his painkillers. Thus, Hei decided to drop this line of thought and think about it again once he had gotten a healthy amount of sleep.

When they were through the Christmas market, Rem gave him a hug and told him: "This was a beautiful evening I had just now, I hope we can repeat it at some point." With that she left him alone and went her own way with a somehow cheerful step. All Hei could do was wonder at her peculiar behavior.

* * *

><p>Misaki was getting more and more frustrated. Ever since she arrived in Bielefeld, there had been no activity of BK201 whatsoever which left her with nothing to do but to enjoy her holidays. When it was not storming, the city actually wasn't too bad, but after the first day, she already found that she couldn't concentrate on doing anything as long as she knew that BK201 could be running amok at the very moment.<p>

Still, she had decided to go to the Christmas market that had opened one day after her arrival. From what she could see, the whole city seemed to be assembled there, so there was at least a chance that she would find her black reaper. She fought her way through the masses of humans and even thought that she had found him a couple of times, but every time she did, that person turned out to be some random civilian. Additionally it seemed hard to explain her mix-up to them in English, so after a while she just muttered simple "excuse me"s when she messed up.

All in all, her search quickly turned out to be frustrating, so she decided to at least try to have some fun once in a while. At some point she even found a booth that was selling French fries which made her go there in a bee-line. There was most certainly nothing better than some greasy food!

* * *

><p>On his way back from the Christmas market, Hei had to shove the chattering masses away forcefully. All he wanted was to get back to his room and get a good night's rest, but everybody seemed to have only one wish – namely to stop him from doing just that. Frustration quickly swept over him due to the unfairness of the world, but all of this didn't even compare to what he saw next.<p>

At a fries stand, he saw no other than officer Misaki Kirihara, the one woman he least expected to be here. How did she get to this place? Had she tracked him down when he used his powers? It must have been the middle of the night in Japan at that point, so who paid that close attention towards contractor activities in foreign nations at that time? Then again, this could all still be a dream and the police woman just appeared in it, because he had met her at several occasions.

Now that he thought about it, it did seem surreal that a single officer would come all the way to Europe, just to track down a contractor. He wondered what dream-Misaki would do if she met foreign exchange student Li in this city, after she had just found out that BK201 was here. Would she suspect him? Probably.

Before he could take a step in her direction, however, his rational mind made his limbs stop. He couldn't be completely sure whether this was a dream or not, so it was best not to do anything stupid right now. This was the exact reason why contractors weren't supposed to dream! Dreams where irrational and they made people do irrational things! This whole mess had gone too far and he had to change his condition as soon as possible.

Thus, Hei quickly returned to his apartment, took some pills, and sank down onto the bed. He felt drowsy all of a sudden and before he had really realized it, sleep had taken over his senses. Alas, he did not get what he wanted, as the dreams started shortly after.

* * *

><p>If Hei was completely conscious, he would have noticed that the medicine did make some kind of difference. His vision was poor – everything seemed hazy and somehow dark. None of his limbs would entirely do as he said and apparently there was some kind of time lag between his brains orders and their movements. It was like he was walking through thick glue or honey, constantly struggling to move.<p>

These handicaps let to him dying a couple of times. Sometimes stabbed to death, and sometimes he just froze in the snowstorm, because he could not move enough to keep his body warm. Even the well-known scene of the field filled with silver grass was oddly distorted. The grass was out of proportion, like a giant forest of silvery blades and the moon was a long white stripe in the purple sky. And he had thought that the Christmas market looked surreal.

His fuzzy mind registered at some point, that these effects where caused by the pills he had taken, and he managed to realize that none of this was real. Still, he had a harder time waking himself from the nightmares that night, which was probably due to the medicine.

At some point where he was lying in his bed in a state that was closer to sleeping than waking, he wondered if his nights were better with or without those pills. Sure, he got more sleep, but being caught in a nightmare, unable to wake up wasn't nice at all.

How did he get here again? Why was there a deformed black tree? And what was that silver stripe in the sky supposed to be?

"Stop taking that medicine", a totally contorted voice spoke to him. It was probably the creepiest sound he had ever heard. Barely understandable, yet it penetrated him to the core.

"I can't help you if I can't properly show you what you need to see…" the spooky voice got quieter as a giant white blur that looked like it was supposed to be a snowflake drifted by. Off-handedly, Hei reached out to it with one hand and touched it. An icy cold spread through his body and he awoke for what seemed like the 20th time that night.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, this was chapter three.

About the title of the chaper - well, I don't know if you heard about Zhuangzi's butterfly-dream, but that's what I'm refering to. Like Zhuangzi, Hei experiences this big confusion about what is dream and what is reality and in the end he can't really be sure about anything. Of course the butterfly dream is usually seen in context with Zhuangzi's philosophy, but that's not what I have in mind here. All I'm talking about is the uncertainity that connects those two.

Another thing I mentioned are the Christmas markets. They are rather popular in Germany and where part of the inspiration for this story, because those that I've been to always felt pretty surreal to me. I've never been to the one in Bielefeld, but who knows... Since I'm currently in Germany, I might take a look at it later this month once it gets started.

My last note would be about the medicine's effects. I'm not a doctor and I'm pretty sure that not all the sleeping pills cause a lack of dreams, but there are at least some that do, which is not too healthy. Don't worry though, the body usually makes up for the lost dream time later on.

That's all, I guess.

Scio Nescio


	5. Chapter 4: Of Rabbits and Moles

**A/N****:** It's time for another chapter... have fun!

**Of rabbits and moles**

When morning came upon Hei, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to even try to get up. The sleeping pills seemed to have lost their effect, but that didn't mean that he couldn't feel like something had run him over all night.

After changing, he quickly left his house. He had only ten minutes left before he would have to report to work. Again, it was cold outside and he almost slipped a couple of times, because some people seemed to have forgotten their duty of spreading sand or salt on the sidewalks. The familiar streets appeared to fly by as he hastily closed in on the office building.

However, after he had walked like that for a while, he found himself back at a spot close to his apartment. Had he taken a wrong turn? Without thinking about it twice, Hei tried to get going again, but several minutes later he was back at the same spot. Had Bielefeld changed this much over night, so that he had now a hard time finding his way to work?

With impatience eating away at him, he risked another glance at the clock. Good, he still had about quarter an hour left, so there was no reason to panic. At his third try, he ended up at the park where he usually met November. Now that was weird, had he not intended to go to work? Maybe that problem with his sleep was affecting his waking life by now. It was probably throwing off his bearings, so that he couldn't think straight.

His feet had already brought him further into the park, without Hei noticing it in the least. Now, he was standing under a huge tree that was devoid of leaves which were substituted by threateningly long icicles. Suddenly, one of them broke loose from the branch it was hanging on and fell directly towards Hei. His reflexes allowed him to realize the imminent danger and his brain sent out the appropriate signals that would make his body jump out of the way. But it never did.

It felt as if his feet were frozen to the ground – they still didn't feel like doing anything he wanted, just like when they had carried him into this park and under the tree. Thus, Hei couldn't do anything but wait and watch the sharp icicle split his face. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>Hei awoke with a start, just like he did every morning. This dream he had had right then was different; it had felt more realistic than any dream before. Realistic enough for him to lift his hand and check his face for any damage that could have occurred, but everything seemed alright. After all, it had only been a dream, right?<p>

The whole morning gave him a feeling of déjà vu as he got ready for work the second time and left again – now he had a little more time to get to his destination. On his way he thought about what happened in his dream, but the images were quickly fading, so that there was only a vague memory after a while. This was probably the most frustrating thing about dreams. First, they had to keep him awake all night and then they decided to slip right through his fingers and disappear, as if nothing ever happened, only leaving that weird feeling of having dreamed something important.

Sadly, his day did not exactly get any better when he arrived at work. Alexander was the first to give him the bad news and even he did not seem as cheery as usual.

"Did you hear the newest rumor, yet?" he asked with a voice that was almost a whisper. "The higher ups think that we have a mole and now everybody is being questioned by them."

How did they find out? Hei was confused. Had the woman not kept her promise of staying low for a while? Now he could do two things. Either run, or let himself be interrogated. Of course there was a chance that they didn't have a clue that he was the mole and if he met all the superiors, he would be almost done with his mission.

"Actually, you are to report right now. They should be done with Schneider in a little while, so hurry up."

Hei did hurry and arrived in front of a door that Alexander had described. It was in the second highest floor, where the offices of the organization's leaders were located. After Schneider left the room, Hei entered and took a good look at each person. There were three people – one woman and two men – and all of them had their eyes focused on him, which gave him a slightly uncomfortable feeling. From their emotionless looks, he was pretty sure that all three of them were contractors.

"Hello Mr. Sun. Please, sit down. I am Irene Meier, this is Mr. Torben Fischer, and Mr. Maximilian Lehmann", the woman greeted and he took seat in a single chair that stood in front of them.

"As you have probably heard, we have a spy amongst us and as one of our newest members you are a suspect. However, the other man that joined us shortly before you did is our prime suspect right now and all leads are pointing towards him, so you shouldn't worry too much.  
>Now, from my data I can see that you have never worked with Mr. Smith?"<p>

"No, I have not", Hei replied confused. How had this other person managed to be even more suspicious than he was?

The older man named Lehman continued: "We think that MI-6 is behind this. They have been quiet troublesome lately. The thing is, though, that we know everything about every MI-6 agent and this man is not on our list. If it is true and that organization is behind this, then Mr. Smith is far more likely to be the spy, since he is from England while you are from where? China?"

Hei nodded simply.

"Additionally you just completed a mission where you had to kill an MI-6 agent and as far as we know you did great" the woman added.

"Alright, that's all we need", one of the men continued. "We are just questioning everybody so that our mole doesn't get suspicious and try to dig its way out of this unpleasant situation. Right now he probably thinks that we have no clue who we're dealing with." He laughed an evil laugh and Hei got up in order to leave. These idiots had just given him the last part of the information he needed. Soon the killing would start.

"Ah, I almost forgot!" the younger man called after him. "Schneider and you are supposed to keep an eye on Mr. Smith. We don't want him slipping away at the last second."

"Of course", Hei answered and left the room. Outside a middle-aged woman was already waiting to enter the room.

The elevator took Hei downstairs to the waiting area, where he found Schneider in the same armchair he had sat in when they had first met. Next to him stood a boy with empty eyes and stared at nothing. He had a piece of glass in his hand which led Hei to believe that he was a doll.

"Hui, nice to see you!" the man exclaimed with that harsh accent that he was so used to by now. "Look, this is SWS. He is the boss's doll. We can take him with us and he will tell us where Smith is at always."

"SWS? That's one weird name", Hei commented as they headed back to the elevator and Schneider gave off that hearty laugh of his. "It is. But that does not matter now. Let us hunt some moles!"

* * *

><p>With SWS' help they found Smith quickly. According to their doll, the man was sitting inside an apartment and reading a book. So, Schneider and Hei stood outside of his home and waited in the freezing cold. The only one that did not seem to mind the weather was SWS who just stood there with his shard in both hands and told them Smith's every move.<p>

They spent what seemed like all eternity there and after a while Hei started to get slightly anxious. He still had to give November his report today and if they were going to continue this for much longer, he would miss his meeting. Of course this had to happen right at the one day where he finally gathered all the necessary information. Tough luck.

As the hours dragged by, the supposed meeting time came closer and closer. At first, they had talked about random things, but by the time that lunch had passed by, neither of them knew what to say anymore. Soon, Hei's stomach started to give unpleasant noises. When the rumbling got louder, Schneider decided to speak up: "Go and get something to eat. I will watch while you are gone. When you come back, I will go eat."

Hei agreed relieved and went straight to his meeting place. On the way, his stomach tried to convince him to grab a snack even more persistently, but he did not surrender. Thus, when the time came and he was at the meeting, November was greeted by a loud growl from his stomach.

"Ah, excuse me, I had to observe somebody and I didn't get to eat. I guess I'm lucky to even be here. They figured out that we have a spy, but they are suspecting someone else, so we won't have to worry for now. Now about that information…" After he had told November what he knew, the man gave him a satisfied nod and went on to explain the next step of their mission.

They were going to attack the organization together right the next day. Thanks to the time he had spent there, Hei knew that the lobby was usually empty, for everybody was either in the meeting area, or out on a mission. The possibility that someone else than Alexander would see them enter was almost zero.

After they entered, they would go straight to the superiors' story and try a direct attack, even though they did not know their abilities. November seemed pretty sure that they could kill them before anybody even noticed what was going on, but Hei did not feel too confident knowing that they would go two against three against an unknown enemy. Of course, he was sure of his abilities, but the leaders of an organization like Dornröschen just had to be powerful.

"Alright, meet you tomorrow at eight. I hope that I'm done observing at that point, or else I'll have to take out Schneider before I join you", Hei said slightly thoughtful. He really did not want to spend all night out there, watching somebody that did not even have anything to do with this whole deal.

"Actually, it would be good if you could take him out before we start. That would be one less problem to worry about", replied November.

Hei found that the MI-6 agent looked more or less excited at the thought of some action. It must have been boring to just wait for new information all week.

When his short meeting was over, Hei had to hurry and grab something to eat, so that his stomach didn't tell Schneider that he had done something else while he was out for a snack. After all he did not want to make himself look suspicious after he had just found this perfect scapegoat that would take all the blame for his treason.

The prospect of staying up all night and watching a house didn't seem too bad when he thought about the way his previous nights went. It didn't make much of a difference, whether he spent his time awake in bed or on the street – except maybe for the fact that it was much colder outside than inside.

* * *

><p>When the sun had vanished and the air had cooled down even more than before, Hei suddenly saw movement in his peripheral vision. They had been waiting for something to happen for hours by then and Hei was pretty confident that Smith wouldn't even leave the house for the rest of the night, but now it actually seemed, as if something at least partially interesting was going to happen.<p>

Carefully, he started to inch closer to the approximate point where he had spotted the movement. Most likely whatever had caught his attention was hiding behind that bush. If he could only get close enough…

"What are you doing?" Schneider's heavily accented words cut through his concentration. Why did he have to talk now? Whoever was hiding behind those bushes probably knew that he had been found by now. Quickly, he turned around and lifted a finger up to his mouth in order to shut the other contractor up. It worked and Schneider decided to go with just watching what Hei was doing.

Before Hei could turn back, though, he saw that something again. A black blur was moving from the bush and off to the right. When he turned around, all he could see was some little animal hopping down the street.

"Oh, it was only a rabbit", he muttered. "Must have been a pet, or are there any wild black rabbits?"

"What black rabbit are you talking about? Maybe you mean a white rabbit?" Schneider laughed and Hei gave him an angry glare. "I'm serious, it was a black rabbit. It was running in that direction." He pointed down the street which made Schneider laugh even harder.

"Hey, SWS, did you see any black rabbits around?" He asked, still shaking slightly from the heavy laughing and the boy shook his head without showing any emotion. Slowly, Hei was getting agitated. What was so funny about him being the only one to see that rabbit? Those two should pay better attention when observing this house!

"You don't look well. We should call it a night and you should go home and get some sleep. You look as if you have not had much sleep during the last many nights." At that point, Schneider's suggestion seemed more than good. Considering what he would have to do the next day, going to sleep was an excellent idea. Especially since it meant that he did not have to fight Schneider in order to evade his task of watching Smith. Even if the nightmares came back, he would still get some rest at least and if everything went well, he could at least return back to Tokyo. Maybe Mao could help him then, if the nightmares still hadn't stopped by the time he returned.

Since it was only a short walk to his apartment, Hei did not bother to call a taxi as opposed to Schneider who also took the doll with him. Maybe the fresh air would help to clear his head and keep the nightmares away. At this point he really could not afford to be sleep-deprived at all.

While Hei was walking down the streets, he suddenly noticed the black rabbit sitting on the sidewalk. So, it was real after all. It seemed to be staring at him curiously and Hei couldn't help but try to close in on it, but when he blinked, it had gone. Now this was definitely starting to get weird. Maybe all of this was a dream? But that would mean that he had not really met the higher-ups of the organization and that he still had to gather more information. All the work he had gotten done that day would have been in vain. This was getting frustrating.

Then again, how high was the possibility, that Dornröschen found out they had a spy? And how likely was it that some man called "Mr. Smith" got blamed instead of him? And what about that rabbit that seemed to appear and disappear all the time? All of those little details seemed to prove that he was nothing but dreaming, but there was no actual way to find out. Thus, Hei decided to get home instead, since debating on whether or not e was dreaming just lead to a dead-end.

But then again, there were some things in his dreams that were different from the real world. For example the existence of the moon which had vanished from earth's skies so many years ago. Actually, was that bright blur in the upper right corner of his vision not the moon? So, did that mean he was dreaming? Maybe he should do something against that then.

Hei tried to wake himself up, but it did not work the way he wanted it to. Neither pain nor wishing to wake up got him to the result that he wanted, so he tried to remember how he had woken up from his previous dreams.

Right. He had died many times. So, maybe if he tried suicide…

Just to make sure, Hei took another look at the moon. Instead of a silvery orb, however, he blinked at a yellow street lantern. This was really getting him nowhere.

* * *

><p>The way back to his apartment turned into some sort of a horror trip, so that Hei felt rather relieved when he was able to shut his door behind him. Not only had that black rabbit appeared again and again, but he also felt the urge to finally determine whether he was dreaming or not more than once. Additionally, that urge told him that the best way to proof the fact that he was actually dreaming was to commit suicide. Clean and simple.<p>

However, Hei's rational mind kicked in every now and then and managed to get rid of some of the confusing ideas that his sleepy brain produced. Probably, he had started to hallucinate because of his lack of sleep. And maybe the odd clown with the red hair and the colorful balloons in his hands that he had passed on his way back had just been some creepy image that only existed in his head. Just like the moon. And the rabbit.

Apparently, the fact that he was starting to lose his mind seemed to be the only thing he could be completely sure of and that was probably the worst problem he had.

With his head crammed with thoughts, it took Hei quite a while to fall asleep.

* * *

><p>Finally, the moon was back. This time, though, it was not some weird hallucination, but his real dream-moon. A deep satisfaction ran through Hei's body, as he felt the silver grass around him, touched it in order to make sure it was actually there. He was dreaming – at last he could be sure what state his mind was in. He did not have to guess on what was true and what was not, because he knew that all he saw was nothing but a dream.<p>

"Your time is running thin. Soon you will have to fight for your life." The voice was back. Another attribute of the dream world that could not be found in real life. Everything was so much clearer here. No confusion. Just the simple knowledge that nothing here was real.

Then, it started to rain and Hei looked up at the dark clouds. He did not really care. All that mattered was the fact that his mind was at ease. He did not have to worry about reality and dreams. Nothing was important at the moment. Nothing, but the tranquility that he was able to experience.

"Don't ignore me. You don't have time to slack off right now. Focus!"

Ah, yes, he had to figure out the identity of the person who would try to attack him soon.

The rain turned into snow. And the wind picked up. By now, Hei was pretty sure about the imagery behind all this. The storm, the cold – life threatening conditions that would kill him if he did not do anything about them. Somewhere far off he heard the voice sigh tiredly.

Still, he did not want to work on that problem for the moment. Actually, he had decided to just fight the person had-on if he tried to kill him. He really did not see any need in trying to figure out their identity beforehand. Of course he would be able to get some information about him, but in the end it would not make too much of a difference.

Suddenly, something cold and wet went straight through his back and impaled his heart. So the voice did not feel like taking things easy, huh?

"Get to work" it said before Hei found himself in some random street in Bielefeld.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **One more chapter to go. There may be a short epilogue (about the lenght of the prologue) after the last chapter, but I haven't written that epilogue, yet and I'm still debating on whether there's a need to write it or not. The story already "feels right" the way it'll end with the last chapter, but there are still some lose ends that I'd like to get rid of later. Oh well, I'll decide once I upload the final chapter.

So, that black rabbit is of course a little reference to Lewis Carroll's white rabbit. He is an awesome author.  
>The same goes for Stephen King who created Pennywise. Maybe you noticed that I mentioned him in one little sentence. I chose those two characters to have an appearance, because the main characters of the books they came from seem to live in their own world with creatures that no one else is able to see (the Wonderland and it's inhabitants can only be seen by Alice and only children are able to see Stephen King's famous monster it...).<br>Ah and my title has a structure similar to John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", but there's not an actual reason for that.

kez-chan: In my opinion, dreams are a very nice tool to descibe the depths of a character's mind. Also, dreams leave so many possibilities, because there are no rules whatsover. So yeah, I actually do like writing those scenes, because I feel like they tell people so much more about the person that's dreaming than any actions in real life could. :)

Thanks for the reviews everybody!

Scio Nescio


	6. Chapter 5: Dreaming Beauty

**A/N:** Here goes the final chapter. There'll be an Epilogue, too.

**Dreaming Beauty**

The black rabbit had been watching him for quite some time now. Strings were tied around the rabbit and the strings led to balloons that made the rabbit float around while it nibbled on silver grass.

Hei was not really sure whether he was dreaming or not, neither did he care. All he really knew was that he was lying in some bed – either the real one or a dream bed, but even if this were to be a dream he would still be in his real bed too – and that he was seeing things that his mind made up.

His mind seemed to like the rabbit. While other things around him had appeared and disappeared randomly, it had stayed up there all the time. Probably, he was awake and hallucinating, since he did remember drifting off to sleep every now and then, before he would wake up shivering with cold.

This night turned out to be the most terrible night of his whole life, which was especially counterproductive due to the fact that he would have to fight against strong contractors the next day.

"So, what do you think, should I just call off tomorrow's little appointment with the Dornröschen organization?" he asked the rabbit. Said rabbit however refused to answer and continued to eat the everlasting silver grass instead.

"Stupid questions don't deserve answers, I guess," Hei then murmured more to himself then towards the rabbit. "I can't just tell November to do it alone and they do pay me to do it after all."

Why was he even talking to an imaginary rabbit? He was a contractor, for god's sake! Annoyed, Hei got up and tried to shoo the rabbit away, which to his great surprise actually worked, as it disappeared without protest. He then went back to his bed and lay down in order to catch at least some sleep before the next day.

This was ridiculous. His contractor-mind told him that it was irrational to see weird rabbits at night, but the lack of sleep still managed to make it appear, creating a huge inner confusion, driving him mad! Maybe this would stop once the threat that the voice in his dreams talked about was eliminated. Hopefully it would.

* * *

><p>On his way towards the big office building, Hei did not meet the rabbit. However he did take a closer look at his surroundings, so that November, whom he had met with at the park, asked him, if he was nervous.<p>

"Not really," Hei replied briefly and stopped looking around.

When they arrived, November was fairly surprised, because they were easily able to enter with the help of Hei's key card. Everything seemed to go more than well. Their first obstacle would be Alexander who was standing behind the reception desk as usual and did not seem to notice them at first. Once they got closer however, he gave Hei a slightly troubled look before he decided that Hei probably did not know better.

"Um. Nice to see you again, Hui. You do know that you can't bring friends in here, right?" he stated boldly and glanced at November who gave him an indifferent stare.

Ignoring Alexander's previous remark, Hei advised: "I think you should leave now," but he did not really care. If this human insisted on doing his job so be it. Fact was that neither November nor Hei planned to let him warn anybody in the building, so if he tried anything, they would be ready to strike. As Hei had thought, a fight was not necessary since Alexander seemed to be fairly frightened by the little smile that had crept onto November's face. He quickly left his assigned spot behind the desk and went through the lobby and straight for the door.

When he passed them, he uttered a short "good bye" and Hei was sure that he added something along the lines of "and I hope you'll find some sleep soon", too, but it was almost inaudible. Then he was gone and Hei wondered whether it had been a mistake to send him away. After all he could have a cell-phone and he could use it to warn the other members of Dornröschen. Sadly he had already disappeared through the doors, so Hei decided to ignore him for the time being.

Instead, he led November to the elevator. The fact that there were hardly any security measures to prevent an invasion was nagging at him, but he had confirmed everything beforehand and it seemed like the organization felt safe enough with their key cards.

The elevator took them up to the story where the three leaders of the organization were located. After they arrived, Hei went straight for the room where he had met them for his interrogation only to find it empty. Probably, this room was only used for special purposes. Now that Hei thought about it, it did make sense that each person would have their own private room and he felt stupid for even assume that they would be here.

When he turned around to leave, he was staring at a black rabbit.

Hei tried to blink once, but the rabbit stayed. Even after he had blinked some more and actually rubbed his eyes in a foolish attempt to rid himself of the stubborn hallucination, the rabbit did not cease to exist. It just sat there and looked at him with innocent eyes as if it was not trying to drive him into certain madness.

"A contractor!" November exclaimed and Hei flinched as he remembered the other's presence. He had been too absorbed in his futile attempts to rid himself of his hallucinations and he had been too sure about the fact that the rabbit was not real, that he had forgotten that November was there, too. Good thing the other contractor had not noticed his strange behavior.

However, before Hei could connect November's statement to the presence of the rabbit, the contractor had already pulled out a bottle of water and sent an icicle after the animal which dodged the sharp object and fled. Quickly, November picked up the icicle and started his pursuit. At that point, Hei was almost completely sure that he should have stayed at the apartment. The troubles of the past week seemed to come crashing down at him all at once and he did not only feel terribly tired, but there was also this other sensation. It was nothing he could perceive with his senses, but something that seemed to happen to his mind.

He felt as if his brain itself was tired, as if his whole mindset was tired. Tired of staying sane. Tired of being rational. Tired of fighting all the surreal occurrences that had happened lately.

When Hei managed to get his thoughts focused on the problem at hand again and went after November, said men was already about to follow the rabbit into another room. Quickly, Hei caught up to him and arrived in time to see the black rabbit transform into one of the three leaders. He stood in between the other two and gave Hei a short nod.

"So, you are the one that has been following me all this time", he snarled at the man that seemed to be a shape-shifter. Had Schneider not mentioned a shape-shifter when they had been in the bar together? Hei was pretty sure that one of his stories had included one. Did that mean that the three leader where those stronger contractors he had talked about? Hei had never considered that, but it did make sense that the strongest were leading the organization. The fact that they could now kill two birds with one stone was extremely satisfying to him.

Now, he would not have to kill the strongest contractors in addition to the leaders which meant that his mission would be over much faster which in turn meant that those terrible nightmares might stop sooner.

"Well, I did check in on Schneider and you yesterday," the man replied. He spoke in a low drawl that made Hei feel even more tired.

"You broke into my home too, right?" Maybe he was not as crazy as he had thought. Maybe that contractor had just used his confusion in order make him think that he was losing his mind.

Against Hei's hopes, the contractor gave him a rather bewildered stare and asked "Why would I do that? I don't know what kind of things you imagined once you were in your apartment, but I surely wasn't there. But we're not really here to discuss this right now anyways."

So, the fact that he had seen the contractor follow him around had led his sleep deprived brain to create some hallucinations that included the rabbit. At least that made a little sense, even though Hei was frustrated, because he had after all shown signs of approaching madness. If this didn't stop soon… No, he had to focus. No time for mental health problems.

While the woman attacked with telekinesis and the other man turned invisible, the shape-shifter's ability did not contribute much to his fighting skills. Instead he pulled out a gun which seemed just as deadly as any contractor power was. Soon enough both November and Hei were in the middle of a heated fight, dodging objects that came flying at them, trying to figure out where the invisible person would strike next and avoiding the deadly bullets.

At first Hei was rather concerned because of the strengths of the enemy's powers, but November quickly emptied bottles of water on the floor, effectively soaking everything around them. Additionally, he somehow managed to get the sprinklers at the ceiling to explode, so that water came rushing down all over the room. Apparently the water had turned to ice and busted the sprinklers.

Due to the water, Hei was now able to reach the woman with his electrical surge and managed to attack her with a rather large dose of electricity. She had retreated out of their range right at the beginning of the battle, but November's water quickly turned her attempts to kill them from afar into a futile struggle for her life.

The water also splashed whenever the invisible person made a move and November did not take long to freeze him on the spot. He closed in on his hidden enemy with a cruel grin and watched as the ice spread across an unseen body until there seemed to be an ice statue standing in the middle of the room. Only once the contractor had died, became his body visible again.

After Hei had dealt with the woman, he had tried to get rid of their last opponent. That task however turned out much harder than he would have thought. One of Hei's knives quickly knocked the gun out of his hand, but after the other was left without a weapon, he had transformed back into his rabbit form and evaded Hei's knives as well as his electrical attacks. If only November was not there, Hei could just electrify the whole room, but he did not plan on roasting his partner-for-the-week, so he tried to direct the surges at the rabbit only and failed terribly.

At the end it was due to one of November's icicles that the rabbit had to stop mid-run and change its direction, so that one of Hei's knives finally hit it. The animal quickly stopped moving and fell while a puddle of its own blood started to mix with the water that was soaking the floor around it. Neither Hei nor November regarded their fallen enemies with a second glance. As contractors they did not care about the lives they had taken just then. Their mission seemed pretty much over, since the organization would not be able to make any moves without their leaders.

All Hei felt after the battle was contentment. Finally! He would be able to sleep normally, he was almost sure of it. Certainly these odd dreams were caused by the fact that he had been in a foreign country. Maybe it had been the food. Or the jet-lag. Something like that.

* * *

><p>When Misaki's phone rang, she felt herself get excited and picked up as quickly as possible.<p>

As she had thought, Kanami was on the other end of the line and her friend seemed more than a little excited. Actually, Misaki had to tell her to repeat whatever she wanted to say, because the woman had been talking far too fast the first time.

"Listen, I got BK201's location. I can give you an address. An exact address. Right now!" Kanami repeated and Misaki felt her excitement grow.

"Alright, give me the address. And hurry, before he's gone again!"

Finally, she would be able to find BK201!

* * *

><p>It was about a minute after the battle when Hei noticed an observer spirit in the window.<p>

"November, I think it's not over yet," he sighed and pointed at the green spirit that clung to the glass of the window. The addressed however just shrugged with a slightly amused smile.

"It seems like July is checking on us. He is a little weird for a doll. Gets worried about his 'partners'."

Although this was an almost perfectly reasonable explanation, Hei's suspicions did not calm. Especially, since he had just met SWS the night before. "You know, November," he noted "this organization actually has a doll that uses glass as a medium for its spirit. I last saw this doll with Schneider, so he may be close by now."

However, the voice that he heard next was not Schneider's. Still, it was eerily familiar. As if he had heard it many times before. He just could not pinpoint the exact time or place he had heard it before. It was a female voice. A demanding voice.

"I see, you have found your enemy. I think that you should kill him now," it said.

Both contractors turned around quickly to face the newcomer, but nobody was there. At least there was nobody in the doorway, so maybe the person was hiding somewhere. Then the words finally struck Hei and he suddenly remembered every detail of his dreams. The ice. The cold. Icicles that stabbed him through his back. It had all been there, but he had not understood the message. The warning. November was going to betray him.

After his discovery, Hei quickly turned to attack the MI-6 agent before the other one could attack him. His rational contractor-mind told him that he had forgotten to think his actions through, but his sleep-deprived brain already drove him right at his newly discovered enemy. November's eyes widened slightly when he realized that Hei was about to attack him and he quickly jumped out of the way, before Hei's knife could impale itself in his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" He shouted furiously. "I'm not your enemy! Have you gone mad?"

However, Hei did not perceive his words. His dreams had warned him about this. They had been a warning that was supposed to tell him about November's soon-to-come betrayal. He had been looking for his enemy in so many dreams. Dreams that were filled with snow and ice and icicles!

After November was gone, the dreams would stop, too. He would be free! Free to sleep through the night. Free to sleep without dreams. His life would return to normal!

November stopped another knife that went flying at him with a wall formed from solid ice. After he had blocked that offense, he tried to talk sense into Hei again, but failed, because Hei did not listen. He did not care for anything that the other had to say. All he wanted was to complete his mission. He wanted to do what he had trained for during all those terrible dreams.

Then he noticed the black rabbit. It was floating over November's head, pointing at him. It was not the rabbit that lay dead on the floor, but the one that was tied to the balloons and it was still nibbling on that silver blade of grass. After he blinked once, the rabbit was gone again, but he did not care. Instead he decided to try an electrical attack which was barely stopped by November's ice.

Blinded by his will to fight the foretold enemy, Hei did not even notice the ice that had snaked its way around his feet, until he almost fell by trying to lift his foot. This was not good. The enemy had struck and next would be a killing move. Hei was sure about that.

"Ready to become sane again?" November asked. He was breathing heavily and was slightly pale in the face. Hei looked at him rather confused. Was he not going to kill him?

"Listen. I don't know what's got into you, but I need you to snap out of it or else we're both dead meat", November tried to calm him and Hei noticed his rational mind kick back in.

Why had he attacked his partner? All the proof he had for his betrayal were those dreams. The same dreams that made him tired and confused him. As realization hit him and Hei wanted to explain his behavior, November shook his head instead and pointed at the open door.

"There is someone in the floor. We should deal with them now," was all November had to say and Hei nodded. They were contractors. There was no need to explain. All that mattered was that it did not happen again. No time for hurt feelings.

Slowly, both of them closed in on the door. Once they went through however, someone attacked. If it had been a normal attack, everything may have turned out just fine for the both of them, but the attacker was no other than Schneider and even though they both would have deflected regular attacks with knife and ice, they could not safe themselves from Schneider's sleep-attack.

Both collapsed and landed on the floor.

* * *

><p>"Do you want me to kill them?" Schneider asked as he looked down at the unconscious contractors to his feet, but REM shook her head.<p>

"As I said before: I want the black reaper and I want to use the other one to get to him. I'll deal with this, just sit back and watch."

* * *

><p>This time, Hei was not alone. Both, November and Hei, were standing in the field that was filled with silver grass. While November seemed rather shocked and confused, Hei felt a deep calmness flow through his body. The one place where he could be sure about what was real and what was not. His safe haven for the past week.<p>

"What…" November started, but he was interrupted by the voice.

The voice that had always guided him. The voice that was trying to help him. The voice that actually made him feel safe.

"Do your job now. Nothing will come in your way here," it said.

For a second, Hei actually considered following the orders, but he remembered what had happened only minutes ago. He would not fall for this again. He was not this week. His mind was strong enough to withstand these brainwashing techniques. He would not succumb.

"I told you to do your job!" The voice got louder. A cold wind started to blow – that usually meant that the voice got angry.

Then, the woman that had sat on the tree with him on some occasions was standing before him. She put a hand on Hei's should and looked into his eyes, only to repeat her order.

Instead of following it however, Hei tried to free himself from her grip. He did not plan on turning into her puppet.

"Oh yes, you will," she exclaimed, as if she had read his mind and the grass started to wrap itself around his feet. Higher and higher it went – around his lower body, his upper body, his arms – and it did not look as if it was ever going to stop. It would encase him completely, suffocate him, until there would be nothing left…

Then it stopped. The grass grew limp and fell of his body. Hei could see it wither to his feet, together with the rest of the field, until he was standing in a field full of ashes.

The woman – Rem, he remembered – lay to his feet and an icicle grew right out of her chest. Around it, blood started to seep out of the wound and turned the ashes dark red. He looked at November who had just saved him, before the world started to fall apart.

* * *

><p>Schneider was rather surprised when not REM, but the other to contractors started to move. Should he interfere? Carefully, he got up and closed in on them. Indeed REM did not seem to be awake while the others were. This was definitely not going as planned.<p>

Abruptly, their target moved and before Schneider could react, a knife attached to a wire had been wrapped around his neck.

"Verdammt," he cursed and tried to cut the wire with his own knife. When it did not work, he started to panic.

"Why did that woman target me?" The contractor that had attacked him asked and Schneider decided to answer, since he did not feel like giving the other a reason to kill him.

"Is that not obvious? It is because you are the black reaper," he barely managed to choke out. "When REM heard about that you are a spy that was rented by MI-6 she wanted to turn you into one of her puppets. She can manipulate people with dreams when they sle-"

He was cut of mid-sentence, when a strong surge of electricity ran through the wire and killed him instantly. Hei had heard enough.

* * *

><p>When November woke up from his slumber, all he found was a dead male contractor that apparently died from one of September's electric attacks and a female contractor that seemed to be asleep at first glance, but turned out to be comatose later. All that was left from his Chinese rent-a-contractor was a note that said that he was going to return home and that MI-6 was supposed to deliver the money as they had arranged it before the start of the mission.<p>

At first he wondered, why the contractor had fled so quickly, but then he noticed the red and blue lights that were flashing outside of the windows. The police was there and that guy was not actually part of MI-6, so he had no rights to kill these people.

* * *

><p>Misaki had looked through almost every story of the building. It was on the second last floor that she finally found something. Everything looked like there had been a fight – demolished doors, dents in the walls, water all over the floor – and after a couple of seconds she noticed what looked like two dead bodies on the floor. Next to them stood that MI-6 agent that had been in Japan before and smoked. November.<p>

"What are you doing here, officer Kirihara?" November wondered with a quite confused voice, but she only shook her head.

"Just… forget it," she sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **The chapter's title is a reference to "Sleeping Beauty" (-Dornröschen)...

Right now, I can understand Hei's feeling pretty well, because I'm really tired, so I won't write much more for now. As I said before, the Epilogue isn't written yet, so this may take some time. I think I'll do it over christmas, since I'll actually have some time then.

Scio Nescio


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